Child pornography is the community's problem, not just that of parents or the police.

That was what members of the public and the York Regional Police Services Board were recently told in a staff presentation.

"We're all in this together," observed inspector Mike Fleming, who observed that few things scare parents more than the thought their kids might be at risk.

Detective Robert Thomson defined sexual exploitation as a case of an older child, adolescent or adult taking advantage of younger child or youth for sexual purposes. Such activity violates the Criminal Code on a number of levels, such as sexual interference or invitation to sexual touching, both of which he said are punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison, or sexual exploitation, which could put someone behind bars for up to five years.

Pornography is produced in many countries, including Canada. Thomson said one of the problems facing authorities here is the various nations have different laws and customs when come to this type of material. As well, he said the victims are getting younger, and computers are becoming much easier to access. The result, he observed, is upwards of $3 billion was created in 2004 from the child porn industry, and some 20,000 images of children appear on the Internet every week.

Canada is not immune to any of this. Thomson said about 84 per cent of Canadian children have access to the Net, and roughly 68 per cent of them visit chatrooms. Those numbers are growing, as even junior kindergarten children are learning to use computers.

In 2000, there were six incidents of child porn reported in York. things were very busy in '03, with 99 incidents, although Thomson said a lot of that was prompted by information from authorities in the United States. There were 54 incidents last year, and 19 so far in '06.

The problems facing the community include the fact that kids are often much better educated in computer technology than their parents, and often spend hours on their machines every day. Many parents also have trouble understanding the terminology their kids are using, or what's going on in the whole on-line community. Thomson also said there might be a problem of parents feeling shame if their children are victimized, believing they failed to adequately protect them. As well, he said there is peer pressure on some youngsters to go on-line.

The challenges facing police include technology. Although there have been advancements that help the authorities, they have also made things easier for the perpetrators. The criminal justice system doesn't do a great job with offenders either. Thomson cited headlines that state it's rare for child pornographers to do jail time, adding the sentences they get often don't reflect the impact their acts have had on the victims. Sometimes, these people are sentenced to house arrest, meaning they get to stay at home, on their own, and in some cases, they get their computers back (after the hard drives have been wiped clean), which they can start filling again.

This kind of work takes a toll on the police officers too. Thomson said they have to look at every image in the course of their work, and Chief Armand La Barge later observed that can take a toll. "It leaves you with a very cynical impression about other human beings," he commented.

Profiling a child pornographer is not easy, although Thomson did say 99 per cent of them are male. He's been doing this work for about six years, and in that time, he's busted one woman for possessing porn. In terms of age or background, he said he's seen offenders on pension and who are senior managers in large corporations. They can be related to their victims, and thus be in a position to manipulate the parents. As well, these people are predators, and are very knowledgeable about what music, books and TV shows kids like these days. "They can talk the talk," Thomson observed.

"The age expanse is great," Thomson declared, adding there are offenders as young as 16 or as old as in their 70s.

Factors that could put a young person at risk include low self esteem, feeling lonely, isolated or insecure, or being new to on-line activity. Thomson said predators can spot new kids. As well, he said youngsters can be easily fooled by adults.

Indicators that kids might be at risk include passing up family activities, like outings or vacations, to spend more time on the computer, going on-line late at night and staying there all night while the parents are asleep, receiving gifts from unknown people, such as cell phones, which makes it easier to contact them, and hastily changing computer screens when a family member walks into the room.

The police strategy in York has a three-pronged approach, according to Thomson, including enforcement, awareness and education.

The enforcement component includes involvement of the child abuse unit, which investigates all physical and sexual assaults of people younger than 16 (and that includes referrals and incidents involving child porn and Internet luring); the sexual assault bureau; and the high risk offender unit.

Detective Jim Killby said the high risk offender unit, which was formed in the fall of 2004, shares information with the federal and provincial authorities, as well as other agencies. they collect information on possible high-risk offenders, and manage the Ontario Sex Offender Registry in York.

He said the registry was launched in light of the abduction of of Christopher Stephenson from a mall in Mississauga in 1988 by a known sex offender, who later brutally killed him. The registry was among the recommendations made by a coroner's jury, and it was established in 2001. The registry

is Web-based, with state-of-the-art software, Killby said, adding the data can only be accessed in the police community.

Killby commented that some offenders require more scrutiny than others. He added the community can be notified of an offender being in their midst, at the discretion of the police chief. As well, Section 810 of the Criminal Code permits authorities to seek judicial restraint on sex offenders who have done their time (this provision was used in the case of Karla Homolka, La Barge added).

There are 6,747 registered sex offenders in Ontario, and 213 of them are in York.

Thomson said there are a number of tools that police use to combat this problem. They include a Child Exploitation Tracking System, Microsoft program that's employed in York. There is also a Law Enforcement Against Child Exploitation program, a prototype software that looks for matches of images on a computer hard drive with out requiring that every image be examined.

The police strategy in York includes education, which Thomson said has to start at home with the parents. There are other useful programs employed at the schools, such as values, influences and peers (VIP) offered to Grade 6 students. He also commented on a program offered at York's Community Safety Village, in which Grade 5 kids believe they are chatting with a peer on-line, only to learn it's an adult.

In terms of awareness, Thomson stressed the need for parents to know there is technology out there to help them. As well, police issue press releases and conduct lectures.

"We have to work together to make this work," he declared. "It's not just a police problem."

Police work with the local children's aid societies, and the other levels of government help out too. Thomson said the province has announced funding for 1,000 more police officers, and York is slated to get 100 of them. Of that, 10 officers will be assigned to deal with luring young people on the Net, along with child pornography.

He stressed that since this is a community, all in the community have to be involved in the solution, including parents, teachers and authorities. They have to learn the dangers of the Net and take an active role in what the kids are up to. Youngsters should not have Internet access in their rooms, and Thomson said computers that kids use in the house should be in hightraffic areas, where they can't hide what they're looking at. They also shouldn't be allowed to have Web cams in their rooms. As well, he said parents should monitor the Web sites and chatrooms the kids are visiting. They should also set rules for Internet use, control passwords and use software that can block out certain sites.

In terms of community involvement, one woman identified herself as a United Church minister and urged that faith communities should play a role. And King Councillor Linda Pabst also urged the involvement of local municipalities.

La Barge also said he used to be on a public library board, and computers in the branches were put in visible areas, so people could clearly see what was being viewed.